Taking Best’s Wines to the world

Vinexpo is arguably the most important and influential wine trade fair in Asia. It gathers the who’s who of the wine industry and is a perfect platform for us to showcase our unique wines internationally and share stories about our history and winemaking process. Held every two years, it attracts wine importers, buyers, on-premise trade and media from around the world.

This year, Best’s was delighted to be among the Australian wineries out in force presenting our wines to over 17,000 delegates from 29-31 May at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Australia headlined the 20th anniversary event as ‘Country of Honour’, with 225 Australian wine brands in attendance representing 51 different regions.

It was the largest showcase of Australian wine ever undertaken in an overseas market.

David Lucas, newly-appointed Regional General Manager, China, at Wine Australia said being Country of Honour was “a brilliant opportunity to shine the light on the diversity and premium quality of Australian wine and strengthen our position in the market”.

As Country of Honour, only wine from Australia was served at ‘The Blend’, the official networking party for all delegates at Vinexpo Hong Kong 2018. Our 2017 Pinot Meunier / Pinot Noir http://www.bestswines.com/oldvinepinotmeunier was one of the wines selected to be served at the event.

The event also included a series of 26 masterclasses conducted by some of the top experts in Australian wine. Our 2015 Thomson Family Shiraz was up there being showcased with some of the finest wines in Australia, featuring in the sold out Langton's Classification Masterclass run by Andrew Caillard MW.

Have a listen to some of the reports coming in from this short video from Wine Australia.

Our National Sales and Marketing Manager Graeme Hogan was in attendance flying the flag for our team. At our Best's Wines stand we poured our 2015 Thomson Family Shiraz, 2016 Bin No. 0 Shiraz, 2016 Bin No 1. Shiraz, 2017 Old Vine Pinot Meunier, 2016 Great Western Cabernet Sauvignon and 2017 Great Western Riesling. We spoke to potential customers from Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, South Korea and of course, China. It was very promising to see how well the wines were received and how surprised many were about the pedigree of the vineyards.

Like many Australian winemakers, we are excited about the opportunity for our wines in China, given it is our number one and fastest growing export market. Currently, China is the fourth biggest import market for wine globally. By 2020 it is expected to have overtaken Germany and the UK to become the second most valuable wine market.

In the Hong Kong market specifically, French wines are the most popular, accounting for a 25 per cent market share as at 2017. But that’s hopefully going to change! Australia is next in line with a 20 per cent market share, though we are market leaders in the mass market segment. Consumers in Hong Kong and mainland China will undoubtedly begin to recognise the quality and value of Australian wines, relative to other exporters. We hope that by showcasing our wines at premier events such as Vinexpo, Best’s will be front of mind when they do.